The present invention relates to spindle moistener assemblies for cotton pickers, particularly of the type including a rotary-picker drum carrying a plurality of picker spindles adapted to be moistened by the moistener assembly. The invention also relates to moistener members used in such assemblies.
Many types of cotton pickers are known, one example being International Harvester Cotton Picker Series 500. Such cotton pickers include one or more rotary drums carrying a plurality of picker spindles which are rotated first through a moistening station wherein the spindles are moistened by the spindle moistener assembly, and then through a pick-off station wherein a doffer assembly removes the cotton from these spindles. The moistener assembly in such cotton pickers includes a plurality of moistener members mounted in cantilever fashion to an elongated support, each of the moistening members including a mounting arm, usually of aluminum, secured to the support, and a moistening pad removably received on the mounting arm and disposed so as to be engaged by the picker spindles for moistening them during the rotation of the picker drum.
We have noted a number of drawbacks in the commercially available cotton pickers wherein the mounting arm is of aluminum or other rigid material, and the moistener pad is removably received on the mounting arm. One serious drawback is that the aluminum arm tends to break when impacted by rigid materials, such as stones or rocks, or when jammed by an accumulation of cotton, both of which are commonly encountered during the operation of the cotton picker. Another drawback is that the moistener pad tends to fall-off the mounting arm when impacted by stones or rocks, particularly if a portion of the mounting arm has already broken off. A further drawback is the difficulty in removing the moistener members from the assembly in order to repair or replace the mounting arm or the moistening pad. Because of the foregoing drawbacks, such cotton pickers usually experience a considerable down-time period for repair purposes. This not only increases the expense of operation and maintenance of such pickers, but also can cause considerable difficulty during the cotton-harvesting period, by delaying the completion of the harvest and thereby subjecting the cotton crop to the risk of damage by early rainfall.
An object of the present invention is to provide a spindle moistener assembly for a cotton picker of this type, which moistener assembly has improvements in some or all of the above respects. Another object of the invention is to provide a moistener member particularly useful in the new moistener assembly.